Page 173 of The Renegade Billionaire

“Grey.” I don’t know if I shout it or whisper it. The blood rushing in my ears makes it impossible to gauge. I don’t even blink as I watch her face for any sign of what the hell he’s pulled now.

She takes the phone and backs up to the door. Cian glances down at the phone and quickly looks to the sky. I can tell by the way his lips are moving he’s cursing the heavens.

Then Madison holds up the phone. Her hand trembles, but she doesn’t let it stop her.

“This is who you get your information from? This is the kind of sleazeball you all work for? Someone who would encroach on a private moment between two loving, consenting adults.” She waves the phone angrily at the cameras.

“You shouldn’t have been having sex on a mountaintop in a public space,” Alistair hisses. Lights flash wildly, and it must snap him out of whatever hate-filled spiral he was in because he instantly starts smoothing out his clothing and holding a placating hand out to the cameras.

“A public space that was rented legally with permits for a private event,” Madison throws back. “You’re all okay taking orders from someone who would record such an intimate, special moment and then weaponize it? You’re all okay with revenge porn? Don’t you have daughters? Sisters? Mothers? What if this were them? What if one day he decides to do this to you?”

“God damn it,” Grey shouts from the doorway.

“Hey, I didn’t sign up for revenge porn. I thought this was a story about the renegade billionaire,” one cameraman says asanother joins him. “I’m out. This is too messed up, even for me. I’m not getting sued for him.”

“That’s nonsense. I didn’t record that,” Alistair blusters, waving at the camera crews.

“No, I know you didn’t.” Madison once again raises her voice to be heard above all others. “I can tell by the shoes and the finger that keeps covering the lens that it’s a wretched excuse for a human, otherwise known as my ex. The same one you paid to tell lies when I was nineteen. Tell me, Alistair, how much did you pay him for this?” She throws the phone on the ground and smashes it with her heel.

Over and over again, she uses all her weight to destroy the phone until Cian pulls her off.

“I didn’t fight back last time, Alistair. I was young and too terrified to even leave my house, so I allowed my grandfather to be my proxy. But make no mistake. I’m not that little girl anymore. I will fight back with everything at my disposal if you come near me or my family again.” She starts to turn, then stops. “And to make myself very fucking clear, Braxton is my family. Greyson and Sage are my family, so think very carefully before you come attacking us again.”

“She cursed again.” Grey sounds shocked and a little bit proud, and he isn’t the only one.

The camera crews start shouting new questions about our relationship at her. She answers a few, then my phone rings, and I wonder how long the time-lapse was between what I just saw and real time.

“Madison?” I answer in a rush. “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah.” She drags out both words as if they’re a complete sentence. “But I think I just made a very big mistake.”

“I saw, sweetheart. I saw, and you were magnificent. Where are you now?”

“But I told them all that we’re getting married.” Her voice trembles, and I regret ever leaving her alone.

“We are getting married.”

“But we had a plan.”

“And plans change. Where are you?”

“I’m at the inn. There’s a lot of people outside. More than the last time I went through this.”

“I’m so sorry. Grey and I are heading home. We’ll figure out how to handle everything from the air.”

“No.” Her tone makes my stomach lurch. “I mean, yes, I want you home, but I’m okay. Don’t come home for me. I can handle this, I promise. Please, just take care of whatever you have to do to shut down Montgomery Media for good. When you come home, I want it to be forever.”

“Baby.”

“I mean it, Braxton. I’ve already faced my monster, now it’s time for you to do it as well. I have a support system here. They won’t allow anything to happen to me, and I can take care of myself.”

That reminds me about her security. “Where the hell was your security team?”

“Don’t get mad,” she says.

“Madison, I’m way beyond mad.”

“Okay, well don’t blame them then. I told them to go help Blissy at the park because I wasn’t going to leave the inn.”